FM Radio to return to Windows Phone 8, Nokia to continue improving their Lumias with new features

If there’s one sore spot with a certain segment of users it was how the release of Windows Phone 8 lacked FM radio support—something which had been around since the Zune player days. No reason was ever stated, though it’s a safe guess that it was something Microsoft simply did not have time to complete by October’s release schedule.

Now, according to sources at the Verge, that situation will change with the expected GDR2 update coming out later this summer. That addition will allow users, when headphones are plugged in, to use their Windows Phone as an FM radio—an important source of news and entertainment for many in emerging markets who can’t afford streaming data plans.

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In addition, Nokia is reportedly working on a few other tweaks for its Lumia Windows Phone 8 devices. We’ve already reported on incoming camera improvements, Flip-to-silence making a comeback, the Color Profile selection and of course Nokia’s Storage tools, so none of that is actually news. But now we can add a fourth: double tap the display to wake up the phone.

On a very limited set of Windows Phones e.g. ATIV S, some early LGs there is a physical Windows key which can also double as a second way to turn on the phone. And recently, BlackBerry added a “swipe up” gesture that unlocks the Z10, making buttons a thing of the past. Nokia seems to have picked up on this useful feature and will have it so that double-tapping the screen (and probably using that Super Sensitive Touch technology) will cause the device to pop up from sleep. [Edit: The Nokia N9 had had a double-tap to wake the device feature from 2011, so a port of their old technology] That may seem trivial but we think it’ll go a long way for everyday device usability e.g. checking notifications.

Currently in the latest firmware, 1308, only the Storage tools are available. Nokia is expected to either update that firmware with a newer iteration or release another firmware update to bring over those new features later this summer. Likewise, certain features may already be in the new firmware but have to be “unlocked” by forthcoming Nokia system-app updates via the Store.

FM Radio to return to Windows Phone 8, Nokia to continue improving their Lumias with new features

I'm really excited about the fm. When I was waiting for the 920 to come out I noticed it on the 900 they wanted to sell me. I hope someone makes a radio recorder so I can pause live radio and pick up where I left off, or just record talk shows all together.

Internet streaming works wonderfully, except when youre in areas of spotty coverage. That alone doesn't make FM a major feature for me. What does, is the streaming blackout of all major pro sports here in the States. YOu cannot stream live sport due to licensing restrictions. Over the air is good to go however. That is why I loved how WP7's had FM built in, and look forward to the return when I upgrade my 920.

Here we go again. All Windows Phone 8 devices have the same chipset and in that chip, it has Bluetooth and FM radio on ONE chip. All Windows Phone 8 devices have the hardware to do it, they just need the software to enable it. This has been confirmed on the Lumia 920 AND the HTC 8X that they do and confirmed that all current model phones have the chipset...

I am sure we will not see this update by next week, AKA the start of the baseball season here...(what I used the FM radio on my old tropy all the time for)

The Bluetooth hardware in the Lumia 820 and 920 is part of the SoC (system-on-a-chip) provided by Qualcomm. The specific version of the Snapdragon S4 used in the Lumia devices is the MSM8960 (dual core version), clocked at 1.5GHz. Specific Bluetooth support is provided by the WCN3660 "Combo Chip", which also provides WiFi and FM radio functionality, and is a piece of companion silicon to the main central processing unit. Both Bluetooth 3.1 and Bluetooth 4.0 are supported by the WCN3660.

I'm guessing it requires something on the carrier's side to allow the app to keep track of usage (again, just speculation). I would love to see a phone-only implementation of an app that can keep track of data usage. I'm not looking for exact numbers, an approximate would be sufficient to help keep track of usage and avoid overages. I think Nokia counters does this, but it would be nice to have an app available to everyone.

I assume its because each carrier tracks data differently and has different specs for what counts as data, some carriers don't charge for YouTube or facebook/twitter data etc, if it was purely on the phone side we would have an inaccurate reporting of data used

Indeed. I never understood this attitude that FM is just something useful for emerging markets... In the US we are robbed daily by carriers and the exclusion of a feature like the radio was solely at their advantage.

What I'd like to know is if anyone else has recieved the post portico update yet. This is looking down the road for the summer and of the four 920's in my family none of us have recieved an update notification yet. Anyone out there recieved it?

Several weeks ago, Mary Jo Foley wrote that GDR2 will be ready in 2 months, which at the time of her writing meant around April 2013. But I don't know if by "ready" she meant ready for OTA or ready for testing by OEMs and Carriers. If she meant the latter, then GDR2 would probably start rolling out to phones May 2013 at the earliest.

It sounds to me like Microsoft legitimately wants to restore features that were lost in the transition from WP7 and 8 but didn't have time to implement properly. Maybe we will see a return to Zune features!

The Nokia 808 had an FM Radio and an FM TRANSMITTER
Does anyone know if the 920 will have the transmitter as well? I really hope so. It is so nice to not have to add some transmitter dongle to get the audio on your car radio...

My truck is 11 years old with no aux in, which is why I use FM transmitters....
I know I could refit with a new radio, but I was just wondering that since the older Nokia 808 had a transmitter that maybe the newer 920 would also.

This would be nice if it did have this. I have an older car that does not have the AUX input and I do not want to replace the radio right now since there are a number of functions that it does allow access to.

That's too stupid. "Double tap to wake up display" consumes too much battery to keep the big screen digitizer on. "Slide to wake(s2w)" has been tested for a while in HTC devices and is the best way to wakeup/suspend device (In case some people don't know, "slide to wake" means sliding through the capacity buttons from left(back) to right (search) will wake up device, sliding from right to left to suspend. )

Double tap need 1. LCD digitizer always on, system is active, which consumes large amount of battery 2. Double tap action, which is not better than single pressing power button. 3 still need press power button to turn off screen.

Oh, the sneaky little b.......only now tapping into the fm radio. And all this time I read articles stating that all wp8 lumia phones did NOT support radio FM!!!! I am then indeed wandering what more hidden gems are in de phone. It certainly is is thick phone, thus that would suggest more can be fitted. Would be nice to here if nokia was hitting new grounds on a bigger battery that can replace the current models, even retrofit it. That would be VERY WELCOMING news. Does the microusb jack als support HDMI out? That would be awesome!
Would be nice to here more news of windows phone support for more peripheral hardware, such as in home remote controls, more choice in stereohardware support. Recently discovered the TDK wirless speakerline of 2012. Serious contenders for the current JBL and nokia speakers....and what about the TDK q35 with built in wireless charging, oh my!
Still missing things on other fronts. Already heard at MWC about the go pro support. What about parrot or bluetooth handsfree carkits. Where are they? What about the ARdrone support and medical devices such as bloodpressure, scales, ecg? The list goes on....

My Samsung Omnia 7 (first gen WP7) has the physical windows key that can wake the phone, which I use all the time for just that, yet on my wife's Nokia 710 you have to use the power button - which I always find infuriating. I always knew that if I ever upgraded to a 920 (which I hope to do), that the lack of this feature would annoy me. This double tap to wake is a welcome feature.
As the actress said to the Bishop,"It's the little things that count".

FM Radio? Continue to improve Lumias with new features?
What it should say is Nokia is looking to bring a load of features that have been present in their Sybian phones for years over to windows. I'm not criticising but poor old Symbian took a right pasting from everyone, all of the above features, ALL of them were in my N8 four years ago. I'm looking forward to them coming to my 920, I've missed them.

Yes the Qualcomm SoC has the FM receiver built in, but there was no API/driver in WP8 until this coming update to take advantage of it. This is WP playing feature catch-up due to the port over to the Win 8 shared core kernel. This is why some things are still not in WP, but should start accelerating now that the bulk of the core code is in place.

Sometimes I don't know what all those folks in Redmond are doing. I had no idea that at least some of these phones have radio built in but MS didn't get around to enabling it. This is a differentiator for MS - an iPhone can't do it. If you're on a walk outside, don't want to use your data allowance, just want to hear NPR or Rush Gasbag, you have the radio. They also have never effectively marketed the Zune/Xbox subscription service - for the cost of an album and a half on iTunes, you can access millions of songs on impulse. I suppose MS will wait until Apple has a subscription service and then grouse that they had it first.

Thanks Vince. I've always wondered this myself. Why not bliw the competition away by being THE platform for music? I still pay $15/month for my Zune pass and have no plans on cancelling. I see it as $10 for an album(10 song keeper plan) and $5 for unlimited streaming. Hell, they could have saved the Kin by having Verizon charge $15 for the data and have the Zune passas an optional $15 so it matched the 29.99 unlimited plan they had at the time. So many wasted opportunities. I pray to the gods that my 8X has the FM hardware built in...

HTC has a FM radio too... This is just not Nokia devices. This is Microsoft's fault for not having the software ready, HTC, Nokia, Samsung, all WP8 devices have the chip set. With a Update from Microsoft to enable the chip and software to use it, all devices will have FM radio...

I'm so excited about FM. Its great for football games because everyone and their dog is online in the stadium. Streaming performance is crap, but fm signal is steady freddie reliable. And like was said before, takes less battery than streaming. win win

FM radio is only good for emerging countries? Do you use jetpacks to get to work, drive fliying cars or have reliable internet connections without stoppages when streaming the radio from the "future"? Have you ever been overseas where women have moustaches, people ride donkeys and internet roaming is incredibly expensive? Mobile devices are for that: traveling around the world, kisssing hairy women and riding donkeys. If you plan to stay at your office/home streaming from your wi-fi, you just need a pc.

I know I don't use this feature as much as some other do but I will love to have it back. I live in San Diego Ca and a few years ago we actually had a huge power outage. Cell service was not exsistant in some areas and my Focus save the day as I could lisen to the radio. If it was not for the radio I would have not known what was going on.
Other than that I do like to lisen to a talk show in the morning that is not online. I usually use my car but now I can't lisen to it on my phone,

I haven't listened to FM radio in years. All the stations in my area turned foreign language or play horrible top 40/pop. Now Sirius would be cool to have. :)
But it's good this feature will be there for those that want it.